Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 85
ज्ञात्वा प्रभावमतुलं मणिकर्णिकायां यः पुद्गलं त्यजति चाशुचिपूयगंधि । स्वात्मावबोधमहसा सहसा मिलित्वा कल्पांतरेष्वपि स नैव पृथक्त्वमेति
jñātvā prabhāvamatulaṃ maṇikarṇikāyāṃ yaḥ pudgalaṃ tyajati cāśucipūyagaṃdhi | svātmāvabodhamahasā sahasā militvā kalpāṃtareṣvapi sa naiva pṛthaktvameti
Wer die unvergleichliche Macht Maṇikarṇikās erkennt und dort diese leibliche Masse ablegt—unrein und stinkend nach Schmutz und Eiter—verschmilzt sogleich mit dem strahlenden Glanz der Selbsterkenntnis. Und selbst durch andere Kalpas hindurch fällt er nie wieder in Getrenntheit.
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Mumukṣu-oriented audience within Kāśī-māhātmya
Scene: A contemplative yogin at Maṇikarṇikā gazes at the pyres, perceiving the body’s impermanence; a radiant inner light (ātma-bodha-mahas) envelops him as his individuality dissolves into a vast, serene luminosity symbolizing non-separateness beyond kalpas.
FAQs
Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī is praised as a supreme liberating tīrtha: relinquishing the body there leads to immediate union with Self-realization and freedom from recurring separateness.
Maṇikarṇikā Tīrtha in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the salvific greatness (māhātmya) of casting off the body at Maṇikarṇikā with knowledge of its power.